Randi Zuckerberg Delivers Woman of Achievement Lecture

Randi Zuckerberg, former head of marketing for Facebook, presented Meredith College’s 2012 Woman of Achievement Lecture on Monday, February 27, 2012. The Woman of Achievement Award recognizes women who are inspirational role models.

When presenting the Woman of Achievement Award, Meredith College President Jo Allen called Zuckerberg “an extraordinary woman who has modeled success and vision… a woman who is smart, successful, compassionate, driven and fun.”

After accepting the award, Zuckerberg began her lecture by sharing stories from her nearly seven years as head of marketing at Facebook.

“I have experienced the American dream first-hand,” Zuckerberg said of her time with Facebook.

For Zuckerberg, an “a-ha moment” occurred after the Virginia Tech campus shootings, when Facebook users started changing their profile photos to black ribbons.

“That’s when I realized Facebook was going to change the world,” she said.

Her team leveraged Facebook’s power in social media, in a variety of ways, including leading the company's U.S. election and international politics strategy and launching the live streaming industry with her media partnerships around the U.S. Presidential inauguration.

Building on what she learned with Facebook, Zuckerberg shared social media trends, including the idea that individual people are now media platforms.

“All of us are our own broadcasting platforms now – with a touch of a button you can reach hundreds or thousands of people,” Zuckerberg said.

In August 2011, Zuckerberg left Facebook to start R to Z Media, a new type of media platform that will be launching in 2012. She was recently appointed to the United Nations Global Entrepreneurs Council, the World Economic Forum's Global Council on Social Media, and the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors Commission on Innovation.

“As an entrepreneur, I’ve had a crash course in all aspects of business,” Zuckerberg said. “I’m the CEO as well as the janitor of my company. That’s the most challenging and also the most rewarding aspect of owning my own company.”

Another trend is social media as a vehicle for charity and social good, which Zuckerberg called the most inspiring examples of social media.

“If you can get tons of influencers to unify and share their voices in a coordinated manner, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished,” Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg’s lecture was part of the Meredith College Presidential Lecture Series and in observance of the College’s annual Founders’ Day celebration. The lecture was sponsored by Wells Fargo.